"I believe it is time that you focus on improving yourself rather than relearning techniques." Sensei sidles up to me after our daily conditioning training. He holds a box, which is obviously meant as a sort of gift. Knowing this place it probably was a gun or a sword. 'Though I haven't seen the use of gunpowder... something to look into if it is even feasible as a means of defense.'

"May I ask what you have in mind Sensei?" I may be a little chilly in my question but I don't believe he particularly cares. As long as I'm useful I may do as I please.

"Yes, I believe you will find this tool most useful. Please, take it." He brandishes the box ever forward. I, of course, accept the gift and bow my thanks to him as is proper from a subordinate receiving a gift from a superior. I open the box without any more preamble to find a strange contraption.

It is a shallow and long box made of wood with straps which seem to be fitted for the upper portion of a forearm. I pick it out in order to study it closer. There is a seal of some kind on the underside and a latch on the side of the object. I open the latch to see a box filled to the brim with around ten senbon. I pick one out and examine it.

"Is this some sort of launching mechanism?" If this world has the concept of ranged mechanical weaponry, why would we not be trained in the use of firearms? Surely those would be more practical than essentially strong needles and not particularly aerodynamic knives.

"Indeed, in lieu of bringing up your abysmal aim with multiple weapons," I wince at that. It's unfortunately true. I found out recently that throwing senbon and kunai straight is an actual Chakra technique of its own; especially throwing multiple weapons at once. It works by channeling a directed burst of chakra at the very moment of launch. I find it a tremendous mental exercise for anything more than one weapon at a time.

"It will be more prudent for you to rely on this senbon launcher. Of course, there are kunai launchers but they are less reliable and hold less ammunition. The offensive portion of your disruptive Genjutsu technique would due to be more accurate with rapid fire. Teaching you to throw multiple senbon again would be useless, so think of this as the offensive portion of your main strategy. You, of course, will still need to practice your aim with you bell senbon, but this should help alleviate some of your handicaps."

"Thank you very much Sensei." I bow to him for the second time, as is expected and proper. I pause and lift my head up though I continue to bow. "May I ask a question?"

"As long as it is short, there may not be a mission for you today but I have better things to do." He crosses his arms.

'I suppose that's the best I'll get...'

"Sensei, why isn't the team being trained in the use of explosives and firearms?"

He quirks his head and gives me the most confused expression I've seen from the man. "What are you going on about?"

"You know, the use of explosives for the purpose of dealing damage to a group of enemies. As well, why aren't we using guns, which are far more practical than kunai and senbon as weapons." I feel instant regret at posing this line of questioning.

"I have absolutely no idea what you are asking, Kin, are you saying you want to pick up the use of explosive tags? You can use those easily if you are able to channel chakra through your wires. You surely should realize by now that if you want to pick up on the use of such things that you would either need to become a sealer or be wealthy enough to literally burn cash. I have absolutely no clue what you are asking for the latter point, what are guns?"

'Damn it! I'm an idiot. When will I learn?'

"Erm, well I suppose I should have just asked if you'd have any introductory texts for sealing... and as for your second question.. er, I thought of an idea for a new weapon?" Might as well pose it as an original concept at this point; even if my ideas about the creation of any gun were bullet plus gun equals dead person.

"I suppose since I recently had this idea I thought I may have asked about its feasibility before... the accident."

He looks intrigued. "Do tell." He uncrosses his arms and places his hand under his chin in a thoughtful gesture. I straighten my posture.

"Well, in short, it essentially is an entirely metal senbon launcher. It instead launches small metal ball-shaped projectiles that either pierce armor or can become shrapnel upon impact. The main mechanisms of the concept alludes me, I must admit. But it would require the use of a contained explosion in order to propel said metal projectile at a speed which easily breaks the sound barrier." I'm missing a lot of information about them so I add as an afterthought, "I'm certain it would be rather loud and deadly."

He quirks his head, narrowing one eye. He clearly has trouble wrapping his mind around the concept. "I... suppose... such a weapon would have its uses. If it would be faster than sound then it would most likely be useless as a stealth tool but if it came to an all out fight such a thing could prove useful. It reminds me of a Fire Jutsu I saw once, a long while ago." He meets my eyes, calculative. "It is obviously a rough concept but if you manage to work it out I do not see why you could not use it to supplement your repertoire. I will see what I can do about acquiring you some sealing texts. I am glad you decided to come to me before you started experimenting with unknown techniques this time." He nods and crosses his arms again.

"Ah, thank you for hearing me out Sensei." Huh, that went far better than expected. I bow to him again and place the senbon launcher back into its box. "I will be studying very hard Sensei. I hope you can acquire the text I requested."

He waves me off in a clear dismissal. "I will see what I can find for your skill level, be warned that sealing texts are precious and tend to be jealously guarded. You are dismissed for the day."

A quick bow and an uttered word of gratefulness was bid before I dash off to further my studies. There is a lot to do after all.

-xxx-

"There's something off about her." Zaku shifts his gaze from Sensei to Dosu. "Like, it's not just me, right?"

"I see what you mean. Though, since she is suffering from the results of a mind altering Genjutsu it wouldn't be surprising." Dosu is standing on the vertical surface of a rock.

"She's a completely different person, dude! Kin doesn't have ideas, Kin doesn't study! What is a gun anyway? Where would she come up with that?" Zaku waves his arms wildly.

"It should not be an issue. She is fine, there is no possible way she's an infiltrator. Hidden Sound is an absolute unknown to the rest of the world." Sensei regards Zaku with an icy stare. "She is clearly making headway into retraining, and it is not by a startling amount."

"But she doesn't have fun with me anymore. A person can't just change like that so suddenly."

"Fun is a distant second to completing the mission." Sensei grimaces. "If she is improving I expect her to be more useful to Otokage-sama. Usefulness that you should emulate as well, if you knew your place."

"While I agree with you, Sensei, there is something troubling about her appearance changing so suddenly." Dosu hops off the rock. "Perhaps the training is putting undue mental strain on her?"

Sensei is silent for a few moments but he eventually breaks his reverie with a simple nod. "Do you have any suggestions?"

"I can't say that I'm well versed in mental health..." Dosu gives a sidelong glance to Zaku. "Perhaps Zaku would know?"

"Fuck you. As if I have any clue how to make a headcase less wacky. I say that she should just smoke up but she's a total prude now!" He grinds his teeth. "Like, she's acting like she's really better than me it's so aggravating..."

-xxx-

The mechanics of the launcher are fascinating. Without senbon it is easy to see the intricacies of the mechanism. It auto loads through a queue-like pressure system, whenever a senbon is launched it is almost instantly replaced by a new one. The actual housing of the senbon launcher is spring loaded, though how it resets is a mystery.

I place a senbon in the launcher and close the lid. Then, I strap it to my forearm and look for something unimportant enough to shoot. I suppose the wall is a good a place as anywhere. I take aim and flare my chakra a small amount. The machine instantly fires. A needle sticks out of my wall a few centimeters.

I take note on how little chakra the machine requires to activate. It was such a minuscule amount I don't even notice a change in the levels of my chakra. Now to see how quickly the senbon can be fired in succession.

I place the nine remaining senbon into the housing. I hear a barely audible click once I close the lid. Perhaps the housing of the queue-system requires the entire system to be closed off as a fail safe of some sort? I'd rather not have misfiring senbon so I'm glad the inventor put this into its design.

I flare my chakra twice, so two senbon escape in quick succession. Therefore, it reloads so quickly that it can process commands in less than half a second. I flare my chakra in a continuous stream firing five until I cut off the stream. Interesting, it is rather precise with timing. Though the aim slightly adjusts between each shot, so it can't be relied upon to be entirely accurate.

The most cumbersome portion of the weapon would be the lack of ammo it can feasibly hold. A limitation I can extrapolate is either by design for ease of use or a simple limitation of technology. Maybe I could modify it to have a machine gun sort of mode, but I would likely break the delicate instrument from tinkering. It would be best to leave it be for now. I can't assume that I would be receiving another.

I quickly jot down my impressions and ideas for improvements then pause. 'That'd be useful. But likely impractical for anything but first strike scenarios.' A scope lens would be an excellent appendix to the weapon of course depending on its effective range. Too bad I didn't study optics in my previous incarnation.

"Heh. As if a little bit of glass could hold me back."

There are still glass shards glistening on my floor.

-xxx-

"Zaku, Dosu, time for a spar." Sensei has his hands behind his back and barely acknowledges my teammates. "Time to see if you've improved at all."

Zaku and Dosu go to the usual sparring area. Facing each other a good two meters across from one another. Dosu seems bored while Zaku has a resolved expression. I, of course, took to sitting on a flat boulder a good distance away. But not far enough to be unable to witness their spar. The implications of Dosu being head and shoulders above both of us has been practically shoved in my face up to this point. But still, I'm curious to see how much better Dosu is compared to Zaku.

"Begin!"

Dosu springs into action, approaching Zaku in a single massive leap. Zaku clearly has no illusions about the prospects of hand-to-hand with our resident Taijutsu-type so he backs off to maintain a continuous distance to Dosu. Zaku would occasionally pelt Dosu with kunai and shuriken between using his signature air cutting. But Dosu was more limber and fast than his attacks, as he gained ground through every near miss and dodge. Eventually, Dosu was upon Zaku so the match was over. Dosu didn't even use his Melody Arm, instead a single punch just under his chin sent Zaku flying and crashing into some painful and sharp looking rocks. All in all, the spar was completed in just over a minute.

Sensei called the match and reappeared by Zaku's side in a heartbeat. He picks up the groaning boy and sets him on some flat earth. Then, Sensei calls up some green chakra to his hands and began to move his hands from Zaku's head down to his feet then over his arms. That's certainly a curious technique. 'Is it perhaps some kind of chakra enhanced first aid?'

"Sensei, may I ask what that technique you're using is called?" I head over and gawk at Zaku's surprisingly rapid healing form.

"It is known generally as Medical Jutsu, but specifically, this is the Mystical Palm. This is the basis for all medic ninjas as it can determine both the extent of damage to a patient as well as speed up recovery to most minor injuries. More advanced versions of the Mystic Palm exist for specialized purposes such as fixing broken bones or removing poisons, but this is the extent of my knowledge on the subject. It takes very fine chakra control to not damage the patient further and years of study of basic anatomy to have even the smallest grasp of what is the issue with a patient." He flicks his eyes up to me. "Many times, it is the kunoichi of a squad to take the specialized medic role. But I would not recommend you attempt it. It would take you twice as much effort to learn through your poor control." He returns his attention to Zaku, who by the second was looking more healthy. "I would actually suggest Zaku learn this discipline if he had the smallest inkling of patient."

Zaku groaned once more at that. Despite myself I cracked a small smile and chuckle. "Sounds like Sensei's got your number, huh Zaku?"

Zaku pursues his lips and narrows his eyes at me. He opens his mouth to retort something but instead scoffs and rolls his eyes. At some point during the lecture and small exchange between Zaku and myself, Dosu had appeared to join the team.

"Well, Sensei, I do hope Zaku can participate in our test on tree walking today. Hopefully my single punch didn't knock his entire Chakra system off balance." Dosu has an amused expression and then addresses me. "You, of course, remembered to practice, Kin."

I puff out my chest somewhat, it feels fake but whatever. I am fake as plastic here. "Would I do any less? I have a lot to do and can't afford to waste a single moment." In truth I barely made any progress on the tree walking front. I had managed to puzzle out how to perform the basic Chakra sticking exercise on paper by emitting and recalling my Chakra continuously. But doing the same with both of my lower limbs, which was in of itself inordinately harder, proved to be a multitasking nightmare. On top of that I was expected to be able to move around which made my practice twice as hard somehow. Maybe having some bravado would spur me to do better.

"I do not expect any of you to perform it perfectly. A week is a bit of a stretch for anyone but the most talented or determined." Sensei withdraws his glowing hands from Zaku in the same motion that Zaku hefts himself up. "But in any case, I do expect clear progress. Eventually, you will all begin to do this technique unconsciously. At that point we will move on to the next portion of the exercise."

Sensei walks over to one of the tall boulders and begins to walk up it. At this point, it isn't even surprising, really, it was merely banal. "We shall begin with Dosu. If you would, please demonstrate to us your progress so far."

Dosu lazily struts over to a tall boulder right by Sensei's. He begins the exercise, and at first it is seamless. His stride doesn't change a bit, but as he nears the top he straightens somewhat and begins to punch tiny holes into the surface. He's entirely unamused perched atop the rocky spire. Clearly, he expected to be able to do it flawlessly.

"Good job, I rate it eight out of ten. Nice start, sloppy finish. Now! Zaku if you would?"

Zaku doesn't bother to go nearer to Sensei and Dosu. Instead he picks the closest boulder by him and walks quickly but carefully up the rock. By the end he has a smug look on his face. "Heh, I'm definitely the best!"

Sensei barks out a laugh, which causes Zaku to jump and lose his footing. He tumbles down the surface landing on the ground in clear pain. I shake my head at this. The poor guy needs to maintain his concentration.

"Great use of the technique. If you did not fall like a clumsy monkey, I would have given you a ten. But instead, I must deduct a point for being too easily startled out of it. Keep practicing until you can maintain it without even thinking about it. Kin?"

Nervous tremors start to bubble. I can't help my arms and legs from feeling like jello. This is my first real test of my abilities. If I fail utterly I probably would get the boot... I make myself rigid, locking my joints. 'Confidence. Confidence. I don't need to be perfect.'

I approach the boulder that Zaku previously occupied. I see him studying me intently. I focus all of my will on the stone. I place a foot on the surface and channel Chakra down the leg.

Faintly, I can feel the Chakra adhere to the minute cracks. I start the process of sending and recalling Chakra at a constant rate; then, I place my other foot on the surface. I have grown used to the disorientation of gravity being the incorrect direction. It is merely a distraction, I disengage my foot. Step. Step. Step.

'Slow and steady wins the race...' By the time I'm halfway up the surface I open my eyes. I'm faintly surprised at my progress, my breath hitches in elation.

Of course, I misstep which flairs my panic. I reflexively channel too much Chakra, which flings me right off the surface and send stone shrapnel in all directions. I attempt to recover by rolling with the force and am mostly successful. My right shoulder smarts but I didn't get a concussion.

"Hm... Alright I suppose. I give you a generous six out of ten. You understand the theory and can apply it somewhat. You are pretty bad right now, Kin, practice more."

"Yes, Sensei..."

-xxx-

A/N: I feel like I am leaving too many of these A/N's haha. Thank you again for your reads/reviews/faves/follows!

Don't worry too much about the gun thing guys, these are freaking Ninja. And Boruto has Chakra Machine Guns anyway, so might as well speed up the timeline and see who gets shot. Not that Kin's first gun will be all that good anyway... misfires are serious!

And I feel like I should address the age thing a reviewer brought up. I never had that entirely pinned down on the character at first and I see now that was a mistake. This character should be a young-adult (that is, just recently left the nest) or at the very least really cares about how the opinions of his parents and never took the time to consider these things for himself. Some people are anti-drug based solely on principle, others just because they were told to be.

On another note, I plan on having Kin reveal that he isn't a lady to his teammates within the next few chapters (within the incoming C-Rank mission). Feel free to Private Message or comment to me any ideas for names that Kin could choose! No pressure though, I have a few pretty lame ideas already (Ken). If there are enough respondents then a Strawpoll will be taken to see what name would be most popular!

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